One agricultural drug led to unusual vulture deaths and human health threats.

The overuse of drugs in large-scale agriculture poses a variety of risks to human health. But one that played out in India and the surrounding countries was remarkably indirect: an overabundance of rotting cow carcasses. Thanks to repeated government interventions, the root of that problem—plunging populations of vultures—may finally be on the mend.

The problem started with an anti-inflammatory drug, diclofenac, that was being mass-produced after the patents on it had expired. It found widespread use in veterinary settings in India, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Pakistan. From there, it made its way to the vultures. These birds normally scavenge a large number of cow carcasses that would otherwise end up rotting in the open. Unfortunately, as the drug ended up building up in the vultures, it caused fatal kidney toxicity. Populations of some species plunged to one percent of their historic levels—and the bodies of dead cattle began festering in the countryside.

A perspective in today's issue of Science tracks the efforts involved in saving the vultures. Several of the countries first banned diclofenac in 2006, but that turned out to be only a partial solution. Doses of the drug intended for humans were repurposed for the agricultural market, so further interventions were needed before the contamination problem ended up dropping significantly. Since then, the four nations involved (which are not always on the best terms) have agreed to cooperate to prevent further threats to the vultures.

The effort seems to be working. Although there are number of additional identified threats, the population declines appear to have slowed or halted in most vulture species. A few of them are even showing signs of a potential rebound. It's nice to celebrate a success story, but this perspective does make it clear the success took a lot of work—including threat identification, repeated government interventions, and international cooperation.

Yeah, this is an ongoing issue in conservation efforts, people love to spend money to save evolutionary dead ends like the Panda, but the actual critical species can get wiped out because they aren't 'cute'.

Yeah, this is an ongoing issue in conservation efforts, people love to spend money to save evolutionary dead ends like the Panda, but the actual critical species can get wiped out because they aren't 'cute'.

I'm not sure if this amounts to a problem per se. Yes conservation groups like to use cute animals like pandas in their PR material, but that doesn't mean most of the money isn't spent on areas with greater impact.

Yeah, this is an ongoing issue in conservation efforts, people love to spend money to save evolutionary dead ends like the Panda, but the actual critical species can get wiped out because they aren't 'cute'.

I'm not sure if this amounts to a problem per se. Yes conservation groups like to use cute animals like pandas in their PR material, but that doesn't mean most of the money isn't spent on areas with greater impact.

It certainly is actually. A hugely disproportionate amount is spent on Pandas despite the fact that it is likely impossible to save them at this point and they are not critical in the slightest to their ecosystem. I used Pandas as an example for a reason.

Donors who donate because they like that animal used in literature generally like to see their money going to save that animal. Hell, a huge amount of effort by the International Snow Leopard Trust Fund has been in how to portray an alpha predator in a way that is 'cute' so people will help fund saving it and its habitat.

Donors who donate because they like that animal used in literature generally like to see their money going to save that animal.

While I don't disagree with any of what you said, I think there's also some merit to the idea that cute widdle cuddly species can get people engaged who otherwise wouldn't think of donating at all. And, once they're on a mailing list or two, they can eventually be persuaded to donate to more broad-based conservation efforts.

Donors who donate because they like that animal used in literature generally like to see their money going to save that animal.

While I don't disagree with any of what you said, I think there's also some merit to the idea that cute widdle cuddly species can get people engaged who otherwise wouldn't think of donating at all. And, once they're on a mailing list or two, they can eventually be persuaded to donate to more broad-based conservation efforts.

Pandas as a gateway drug, if you will.

Oh I absolutley agree, and modern Zoos are generally predicated on this type of psychology(cuddly animals people want to see funding more fundamental research). But it is a conflict in science and it meanst hat money is not really spent proportional to need but instead proportional to popularity.

Donors who donate because they like that animal used in literature generally like to see their money going to save that animal.

While I don't disagree with any of what you said, I think there's also some merit to the idea that cute widdle cuddly species can get people engaged who otherwise wouldn't think of donating at all. And, once they're on a mailing list or two, they can eventually be persuaded to donate to more broad-based conservation efforts.

Pandas as a gateway drug, if you will.

Oh I absolutley agree, and modern Zoos are generally predicated on this type of psychology(cuddly animals people want to see funding more fundamental research). But it is a conflict in science and it meanst hat money is not really spent proportional to need but instead proportional to popularity.

Yeah, this is an ongoing issue in conservation efforts, people love to spend money to save evolutionary dead ends like the Panda, but the actual critical species can get wiped out because they aren't 'cute'.

Golden rule of nature: If you're cute and you're not prey then you're a badass.

This will be a respite to Zoroastrians (Parsis) in India. Their final rites include leaving the body in a huge stone well where the vultures would eat it off. Declining vulture population was a huge issue among them as the bodies just kept rotting without them. They even had a big debate whether they should switch to cremation like Hindus with orthodox still sticking to their traditional method. Hope this will help them.

When vultures can handle all kinds of bacteria, fungus, and the toxins that many of them produce, it makes me wonder how this drug can possibly be safe for human use when it kills them.

When talking about drugs safety is always relative, that's why you can't buy 400 paracetamol (acetaminophen) tablets over the counter in pharmacies (at least in the UK you can't).

like other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, diclofenac has side-effects, they are less severe than say, ibuprofen (at prescription dose) though. Hepatotoxicity being one of the main concerns.

I took away that they just couldn't process the drug out of their system fast enough before ingesting more with their next meal. So it built up and, as with every other creature out there (us included), an overdose of anything will generally be fatal.

When vultures can handle all kinds of bacteria, fungus, and the toxins that many of them produce, it makes me wonder how this drug can possibly be safe for human use when it kills them.

I asked an expert - apparently vultures are ridiculously sensitive to drugs like Diclofenac or Ibuprofen, something about their bodies that makes them unable to handle even microscopic traces of these drugs in their food.

Main concern is kidney, not liver toxicity by the way.

There are quite a few drugs out there that are quite safe in humans but can kill a dog or a cat in minutes. Humans are just tough.

A fascinating part of this story has been left out of this article, about how people of the Parsi religion in India dispose of their dead by putting them atop high towers to be eaten by the vultures. The vultures were dying from the human carcasses as well as from the cows.

When vultures can handle all kinds of bacteria, fungus, and the toxins that many of them produce, it makes me wonder how this drug can possibly be safe for human use when it kills them.

I asked an expert - apparently vultures are ridiculously sensitive to drugs like Diclofenac or Ibuprofen, something about their bodies that makes them unable to handle even microscopic traces of these drugs in their food.

Main concern is kidney, not liver toxicity by the way.

There are quite a few drugs out there that are quite safe in humans but can kill a dog or a cat in minutes. Humans are just tough.

Not likely. Primates and that includes humans, are highly sensitive to the funnel-web spider poison.